In the carnival following the conclusion of the year 1753, the Devin
was performed at Paris, and in this interval I had sufficient time
to compose the overture and divertissement. This divertissement,
such as it stands engraved, was to be in action from the beginning
to the end, and in a continued subject, which in my opinion,
afforded very agreeable representations. But when I proposed this idea
at the opera-house, nobody would so much as hearken to me, and I was
obliged to tack together music and dances in the usual manner: on this
account the divertissement, although full of charming ideas which do
not diminish the beauty of scenes, succeeded but very middlingly. I
suppressed the recitative of Jelyotte, and substituted my own, such as
I had first composed it, and as it is now engraved; and this
recitative a little after the French manner, I confess, drawled out,
instead of pronounced by the actors, far from shocking the ears of any
person, equally succeeded with the airs, and seemed in the judgment of
the public to possess as much musical merit. I dedicated my piece to
Duclos, who had given it his protection, and declared it should be
my only dedication. I have, however, with his consent, written a
second; but he must have thought himself more honored by the
exception, than if I had not written a dedication to any person.
I could relate many anecdotes concerning this piece, but things of
greater importance prevent me from entering into a detail of them at
present.
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